Easter Sunday’s Gospel. It’s from the book of John 20: 1-9.
On the first day of the week,
Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning,
while it was still dark,
and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
“They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we don’t know where they put him.”
So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.
They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter
and arrived at the tomb first;
he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.
When Simon Peter arrived after him,
he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there,
and the cloth that had covered his head,
not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.
Then the other disciple also went in,
the one who had arrived at the tomb first,
and he saw and believed.
For they did not yet understand the Scripture
that he had to rise from the dead.
source: wikimedia.org/St James the Great
May the empty tomb hasten us to seek the Risen Lord like it did His first disciples.
May the resurrection of Christ deepen our reflection in the mysterious ways God works in our lives.
May the joy of Easter give us hope in these turbulent days.
Thanks @pkml3. There is so much to reflect on over the message of Easter. I’m glad there are 50 days before Pentecost, because I don’t think I’ll even scratch the surface by then. Wishes for hope and joy to all indeed!
I’ll be going in later to set up a para-liturgy for children, for the Liturgy of the Light. We are going to put out tea lights for every child and catechist and we’ll light them from our own Paschal Candle to remember how Christ’s light has been given to us and how it grows. May we carry our lights in our hearts wherever we go and offer to spread it however we can.
Fifty days?!
I keep forgetting that the Easter — how do you call this, season? — is longer than Lent. So Lent has 40 days, Easter has 50 days, Advent is 4 weeks, and Christmas is 12 days.
We seem to have bigger and bigger “tombstones” — Covid, Ukraine, political strife, economic hardship — and we need this Easter good news to uplift us and regain perspective.
This sounds like a nice tradition, @GB. We have Easter egg hunt but too often, the activity has become secular and totally removed from its religious underpinnings.
When I was young, we’d go visit different churches on Holy Week. I liked the Easter vigils when the church would be submerged in darkness and the Paschal Candle would be lit 🔥 outside. The light would slowly spread indoors as individual candles are lit.
When my kids were young, they served during the Holy Thursday service. Neither of them wanted to serve at the Easter vigil masses because those were long. 🙂But they would serve at the regular Easter mass.
Blessed Easter!
In the Philippines, it’s our first time to have the Easter celebration inside the church under the pandemic. For two years, churches were closed during Lent and all the Catholic Lenten traditions were done online including daily and Sunday masses. Even the Palm Sunday was online for 2 years and I had to improvise the palm for this tradition.
Lenten retreat and recollections were still online for safety against
Covid-19 but a face to face confession was available before Maundy Thursday.
Alleluia, @Eureka! For me, something was missing in mass when I don’t receive the Eucharist. As soon as we were allowed back in church last year, we went.
And the confession! It felt awkward doing it face-to-face, outside the confessional. 😂 I thought of wearing a veil. We ended up going to another church for confession.
@pkml3 You were asking about the 50 days of Easter. It has more than 1 name. Eastertide or Paschal time.
“PASCHAL TIME (ALSO CALLED EASTER TIME) MARKS THE HIGH POINT of the Church’s year and therefore has profound significance for our identity as Catholic Christians. Technically, it is a seven-week season that begins at Easter Sunday and ends with Pentecost Sunday.
ASK A PRIEST – Archdiocese of New Yorkhttps://archwaysmag.org › what-is-paschal-time”
===
‘The fifty days from the Sunday of the Resurrection to Pentecost Sunday are celebrated in joy and exultation as one feast day, indeed as one “great Sunday.”
The Easter Octave begins on Easter Sunday and ends on Divine Mercy Sunday. These days are celebrated as Solemnities of the Lord (GNLYC 24), thereby dispensing us from abstinence on Friday within the Easter Octave.
Forty days after Easter, we celebrate the Ascension of our Lord — a holy day of obligation in our archdiocese. We remember that he has gone to prepare a place for us in his Father’s house, while we have been called to go make disciples (see Mt 28:19). This prepares us for Pentecost two Sundays later, when we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit. It is the birthday of the Church, as the disciples went out of their locked room to proclaim the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.’
— General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar 12
https://www.catholic.sg/eastertide/
LOL Confession – I had to email my priest… he had a confession schedule set up on an app called Calendly and we could book the day and time that we chose. It was great because there were no queues that way, but yes, one had to get used to just sitting outdoors and chatting with the priest instead of being inside in a confessional.
It was not entirely weird to us, because we’re used to having huge Penitential Services where several priests are present and they sit at different points in the church to hear confession. I avoid those because of the long wait, most of the time.
You’re right @pm3, I usually go to another church for confession but this year I had to deal with a face to face one. Just hoping that the priest would not remember my face since we’re still wearing face mask. So what I did is to filter the sins that I confess because the priest is looking right into my face! The confession venue is in a small room.
We have the Penitential Services too. The lines for the priests in the confessional are invariably longer than the lines for the priest sitting near the altar.
I always beeline for the priest in the broom closet or the choir loft. My hubby is the braver one. He goes to priest sitting near the altar. Me? I’ve this weird fear that I’d crack the marble altar if I were to confess my sins near it so I stay far from the “danger zone.”
@Eureka,
The thing is we’re familiar faces to our parish priests because we have dinners with them. We host dinners for priests, one priest at a time, with other couples from the parish. It’s a convivial affair. No agendas. No fundraising. No obligations. It’s more to give the priest a break from his duties and to enjoy good food, good beer/wine, and good laughters. We’re concerned about the mental health of the priests, too. I think we need to take care of them as they take care of our spiritual needs.
I am finding your discussion really interesting as an Anglican – I wish we had a tradition of regular penitential confession. It’s difficult to arrange in my tradition.
I can also imagine wanting anonymity especially if I socialised with the priests.
@Pm3, Glad to know you are well, and “joyeuses pâques”.
Thanks, @WEnchanteur!
As Billy Joel would croon, “Only the good die young.”
Happy Easter to you, too.
LOL @pkml3. I know what you mean. Me, … I’ve given up hiding, since our movement was pretty restricted. I just go to the priest who knows me and we see can each other face-to-face (perfectly recognisable even with mask on). It’s easier for him to advise. In return he also agreed to be my referee so that I can get recognition as a serious catechist (one day!).
Dear Friends, My internet service was disconnected from Friday April 8 until now Tuesday April 19 due to “Repairs in the area”. Anyway Happy Eastern!!!. We still follow not eating red meat on Holy Friday. I had Arepas with chicken bologna, a tomato slice and mayonnaise for breakfast and a pot of Mjadara (rice with lentils and caramelized onions) for the other two meals.
When we where children we celebrated Sunday of Resurrection with a family lunch and the seeking of chocolate Eastern Eggs.
How do you celebrate Eastern?
PD: Sorry @GB and fellow Friends for not being able to connect but it was beyond my control. Hope to join the next session!!! 😀
@FGB I’m sorry to hear your internet problem was so prolonged. Let’s hope all the time spent for repairs leads to better service. As for our Saturday watch group, we took a break April 16 because of Easter weekend, and we’ll also be off April 23 because the following day Orthodox churches observe Easter. We’ll reconvene April 30.
I am Protestant, but not Methodist, yet I love many hymns written by Charles Wesley. A high point of Easter for me is joyously singing “Christ the Lord is Risen Today.”
This year for our Easter dinner we gathered with some of my husband’s siblings and a couple of longtime friends at a favorite restaurant that serves a fusion of Indian, Pakistani, and Afghan cuisines. Lamb kebabs…yum!
Happy Easter @PM3 And BoD!!!
I’m glad to attend Holy Week services in person and our choir was able to sing (we can sing with mask if we want). We sang Holy Thursday with the solemn washing of the feet and also at Easter Mass which was joyous!!! No more Easter egg hunts since the kids are older so we just had a late lunch with choir families at a Thai restaurant.
Annyeong and Happy Easter @PM3 and BOD’s,
makes me feel happy reading about everyone’s Easter celebrations. Thank you for sharing.
For Good Friday, we had an inter-church filipino service. It was a mini-reunion with a few old friends from another church. now that they’re affiliated with Southern Baptists, guess we’re gonna see each other more now 🙂
For Easter Sunday, we had a worship celebration and food galore at church. Afterwards, we played some game cards with some of the kiddos. have any of you guys ever played the “taco cat goat cheese” game? it’s hilarious! a bit painful with all the hand wacking LOL
Here’s an excerpt from a song by Phil Wickham:
Living He loved me
Dying He saved me
Buried He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified freely forever
One day He’s coming
Oh GLorious Day!
with all the big tombstones… looking forward to that Glorious day indeed when there will be no more tears, pain, and suffering. Amen.
Easter celebrations are always a blessing and I am always grateful. There’s something about the cross that gets to me every time.
This year I was extra emotional because when I did confession, face to face with our Parish Priest, I cried. LOL. The few people that was there thought maybe I killed someone. hahahahha
Our Parish Priest were emotional too in a couple of the masses while doing the readings.
It’s always good that the blessings that you wanted to share during Easter was done by your family because you couldn’t do it yourself. I’m sure your boys and hubby were more than happy to do it. 🙂
Wishing @Cleopatra and others who observe the Orthodox calendar many blessings as they celebrate holy days and Easter this weekend.
To @Cleo and all who celebrate Easter, may you have a joyful, holy and happy Easter – season of celebration and growth!